| Cagot ear | An auricle having no lobulus. Origin: a people in the Pyrenees among whom physical stigmata are common (05 Mar 2000) |
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| Cain complex | Extreme envy or jealousy of a brother, leading to hatred. Synonym: brother complex. Origin: Cain, biblical personage (05 Mar 2000) |
| Cairns mechanism | <molecular biology> A mechanism for the replication of a double stranded circular DNA molecule. Replication is initiated at a fixed point and proceeds either uni or bi directionally. (18 Nov 1997) |
| caisson disease | See: decompression sickness Origin: Fr. Caisson (fr. Caisse, a chest) a water-tight box or cylinder containing air under high pressure used in sinking structural pilings underwater (05 Mar 2000) |
| caisson sickness | Disease caused by rapid decompression. So named since it appeared in workers building tunnels or supports for bridges working in enclosed units under high atmospheric pressure to keep out surrounding water, called caissons. See: decompression sickness. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Cajal's astrocyte stain | <technique> A method for demonstrating astrocytes by impregnation in a solution containing gold chloride and mercuric chloride. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Cajal's cell | A small fusiform cell found in the superficial layer of the cerebral cortex with its long axis placed horizontally. Synonym: Cajal's cell. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Cajal, Santiago | <person> Spanish histologist and Nobel laureate, 1852-1934. See: Cajal's cell, horizontal cell of Cajal, Cajal's astrocyte stain, interstitial nucleus of Cajal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cajeputol | Cineol 1,8-epoxy-p-menthane;a stimulant expectorant obtained from the volatile oil of Eucalyptus globulus and other species of Eucalyptus. Synonym: cajeputol, cajuputol, eucalyptol. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cajuput oil | A volatile oil distilled from the fresh leaves of Cajuputi viridiflora, a tree of tropical Asia and Australia; a stimulant, counterirritant, and expectorant. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cake alum | Astringent detergent for skin ulcers. Synonym: cake alum. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cake kidney | A solid, irregularly lobed organ of bizarre shape, usually situated in the pelvis toward the midline, produced by fusion of the renal anlagen. (05 Mar 2000) |
| caked breast | Painful distention of the breast occurring during the latter days of pregnancy and the first days of lactation. Synonym: caked breast. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Calabar bean | The dried seed of Physostigma venenosum (family Leguminosae), a vine of western Africa; it contains the alkaloids physostigmine (eserine), eseramine, eseridine (geneserine) and physovenine; in toxic doses it causes vomiting, colic, salivation, diarrhoea, convulsions, sweating, dyspnea, vertigo, slow pulse, and extreme prostration. Synonym: Calabar bean, ordeal bean. Origin: G. Physa, bellows, + stigma, a mark, spot; so called because of the shape of the stigma (05 Mar 2000) |
| Calabar swelling | A parasitic infection caused by the nematode loa loa. The vector in the transmission of this infection is the horsefly (tabanus) or the deerfly or mango fly (chrysops). The larvae may be seen just beneath the skin or passing through the conjunctiva. Eye lesions are not uncommon. The disease is generally mild and painless. (12 Dec 1998) |